Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Bow Pulpit

Got the first batch of parts from the jet-cutter. Cut from half-inch 316 stainless steel, these make up the jib/bobstay fitting and the aft mount brackets and backing plates.

Bow pulpit parts fresh from the water-jet cutter

These backing plates have a hole pattern that match those of the mount brackets. Three holes each side. I hand tapped 5/8-11 coarse threads in each (that was fun). The pulpit will be thru-bolted to these backing plates atop the caprail. Threaded backing plates allow "one-person-one-tool" install/removal of the pulpit (my favorite kind of removal, though the puplit will be a bit heavy for one person to handle).

Setting the backing plates (three bolts, both sides) with the jig, until the adhesive cures

Using the CNC machine, from the CAD drawings, I built a jig from 3/4 inch plywood that was used to spot the holes on the caprail for drilling and setting the backing plates underneath (gooped in with 3M 5200 adhesive). To help keep everything aligned and centered during fabrication, I will provide the same jig to my stainless guy when he builds the platform (next week or so). The hope is this will eliminate any trial-and-error fitting.

Interior

The few remaining overhead liner cleats were installed in the forward head and aft cabin. Strips of one-inch thick Coosa board (the very low density bendy grade) were gooped(epoxy) and screwed in place. Also installed were remaining under-sidedeck cleats for mounting the grabrails, and top edges of cabinet faces. With all the cleats installed, more insulation was cut, fitted and placed (its gonna be toasty in there this winter).

Overhead cleats (grey) and insulation (black). Aft cabin.

More cleats and insulation. Forward head.

What about the V-Berth?

A question on the interior remains: how much do we trim out the v-berth? So far, we expect the v-berth to act as the "garage". While there are two over/under berths built in, for two smallish people, we expect this area will be full of crap 99% of the time. Things like bags of sails, fenders, coils of line, bags of stuff, etc. If that is the case, then it won't be a regular "living space". So, do we really need to trim out the v-berth like the rest of the interior? That does not mean it will go unfinished, but maybe a more simpler kind of interior?

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Some time ago, earlier in this blog, I think I talked about all the design work and testing I did for the bow pulpit. This, based on the plan to build the boat starting at "both ends and work toward the center." I was all ready to pull the trigger on the stainless fabrication. Turned out it was easier, for a number of reasons, to start in the middle and work toward the ends. This put pulpit construction on hold. Well, I have now reached the "ends". The pieces for the forward anchor locker have been cut and fitted for some time, but final glass-in has been waiting on bow pulpit placement (I need access to the bulwarks that will be blocked once the anchor locker is glassed in). For this reason, progress must be made on the pulpit.

I dug up and finalized the original design work. I am now awaiting parts for the "platform" portion of the pulpit. In a couple weeks we should have things spotted and mounted.

Part I: Bow Pulpit Platform

This is just "Part I" to get the base platform down which includes bulwark attachment plates and the forestay/bobstay plates. The platform is designed for easy attachment/detachment from the bulwarks. Once mounted, it will be removable for Part II & III. Part II is the addition of anchor slots and rollers (plus some more reinforcement, in the two big triangles on the right). Part III is the addition of the rail superstructure.

Bow pulpit (yes, I know, long overdue) mount point spotting and preparation on the bulwarks. This involved removing two gooped in stainless cap head bolts clamping the hull and deck (very tedious and very annoying).

Jig construction for bow pulpit mount brackets, to be used by our stainless fabrication guy, to help keep everything straight and aligned as he builds it (coming soon).

Main salon window sample cutout and mounting, for testing. See picture below.

Window size and placement testing

The window samples (black portion) represent the glass (no flange). The DSG medium duty windows have a 3/4 inch flange. If we wanted to squeeze out another 3/4 inch perimeter of window area, we could. Something to think about.